The Oceanic Bridge region of the Navesink River typically holds very large fluke as they come into the river every spring to spawn. As the days warm up fishing gets better and better. With its high cliffs and extravagant mansions overlooking it the area is a very unique place to fish. Arrived around 8 am to meet up with a fellow kayak fisherman. Reports for fluke in the river were strong the week before and we were searching for a good result. Dropped in on a small sandy beach at a local park in Rumson New Jersey. Started a drift fishing a small channel on the south east side of the bridge. Choice of rig was a 1 oz white Spro bucktail with a 6″ white gulp swimming mullet and a high dropper loop with a 5/0 Gamakatsu Octopus hook tipped with a Power Team Lures Chartreuse Grub.
Fishing was slow all morning a few fish 16″ and under. In New Jersey 2014 Regs is 18″ and five fish. Soon after 9 AM there was a police boat that showed up and was boarding everyone. They actually didn’t bother me or even stop by. They boarded just about every boat checking their catch.   After about 8 hours of fishing was able to land a 19″er finally! Really glad I didn’t decide to give up for the day. At this point in time i was just tired of being rocked all day by boat traffic and the wind had become stronger. It was time to call it a day. It was great to get out and use my new Aqua-bound Spin drift Carbon Paddle. I was able to really put it to the test! The performance is amazing. Paddling the low angle style I have found causes less fatigue. Meaning longer days on the water fishing.

Kayak Fishing Report for Raritan Bay New Jersey 5-24-14

Kayak fishing Raritan Bay New Jersey for Striped Bass Bluefish and Fluke (Summer Founder)

Arrived at the drop in at 5 am. Did not stop for any bait as best bets there would be bunker plenty available. Water temps 60 degrees outgoing tide had just started. Water was muddy as there were heavy thunder storms the night before. There was actually an entire tree trunk floating.

Started Trolling with Diawa SP Minnow. No luck no bunker. Trolled for 2.5 hours. Decided to switch for Fluke.

First drift had a few hits. Maybe Sea Robins or Fluke that were just mouthing bait.

Made around 15 drifts with no hook ups. Wind was against tide and strong. A bit chilly intil around 9am. Finally spotted bunker. Small schools boats kept crashing the schools. I was able to snag one.

Rigged the bunker for live line set up. Drifted across reach channel . Had a hit on the bunker then no more. Reeled up only the head was left.

Dropped back down and hooked up a bluefish that eventually sawed my hook off the leader. By now the sun was out strong and the wind was pretty straight out of the north. Spotting bunker was almost impossible.  Decided to troll and ended up landing a nice bluefish 30”. Lost my SP minnow and a few other lures.

Called it a day at 2:00 PM just after slack low tide.

Striped Bass in thinking are mostly up the river spawning. Few reports of them on the radio. A little early for fluke in the back of the bay. Maybe by this weekend.

Plans for fishing in RB are going to be rough for this weekend.

The wind forecasts are showing a demanding paddle and rough conditions. The stripers tend to like rough water though. Planning on Friday evening it shouldn’t be quite as bad. Then again going out early Saturday morning or just fishing right through. The forecast could change and typically will.

Hope to get some cool photos of the new Cuda and the Big Rig along with some nice fish!

For the local anglers if anyone cares to join up on Friday evening I will be on VHF channel 71. My handle is Yak Chum. Fishing location will be Raritan Bay between Staten Island NY and Keyport NJ region. Hoping to fish the Raritan reach channel. Not sure if I will get out that far though.

Good luck to anyone else fishing this weekend. BE safe and always wear your PFD.